Sunday, April 28, 2013

SOMETHING SPECIAL BREWING AT BO'S COFFEE! - BY Rina's Rainbow

"Let's meet at (insert coffee shop name)"

"Let's hang out naman and have coffee at (insert coffee shop name)"

"Craving for Caramel Macchiato"

These are the usual phrases we use nowadays when meeting up with friends or even holding client meetings. And I am guilty as charged. As I mentioned in my previous post, hanging out at a coffee shop is perfect because it has the perfect "chill" ambiance, complete with cozy couches, yummy pastries, and good coffee. It's the perfect me-time venue for me where I can write. Away from the chaotic (but happy) life of a SAHM. And as we all know, the default coffee shops are those that are owned by international companies. Now, I'm not a coffee expert. And not that there's anything wrong with supporting international coffee shops. I am one of those people who enjoy the casual Starbucks Frap and or her Coffee Bean and Teal Leaf White Chocolate Dream Ice Blended Drink (That's a mouthful!). But one thing I realized when I attended this event in Glorietta, is that we should ALSO support our country's coffee industry.

It is comforting to know that Bo's Coffee (a coffee shop that originated in Cebu), is joining a cause to promote the Philippine coffee industry!

Steve Benitez. Owner of Bo's Coffee. Very nice guy!

Steve Benitez, CEO of Bo's Coffee, explains that they will do what they can to put the Philippines back on the map as a good source for excellent coffee by helping give awareness and good cultural practices to our local coffee farmers. How exactly? By supporting a coffee farming community in Negros hand in hand with the Philippine Coffee Board Inc. (PCBI). PCBI will provide the seedlings, while Bo's Coffee will educate the local farmers to produce more Arabica. It's pretty awesome! That's why it's only fair that we also support our own "grounds" (so to speak). The event that I attended was the Pour Over Demo of Bo's Coffee, Glorietta branch. They mainly featured the art of pouring hot water over the ground coffee with a paper filter. Of course it's not as easy as giving coffee grounds a hot shower. No no no. It requires precision, a steady hand, the right water temperature, and the right circular pouring motion. They say it's the best method for their Philippine Origins product line. It's also the most basic way to brew coffee and what's nice about it is you can brew by the cup.

How to do the Pour-Over Method:

Mr. Benitez is very hands on and knows his coffee well

1.) Place paper filter on the v60 cone. Rinse paper by pouring a small amount of hot water.2.) Coarsely grind and place 10 grams of coffee onto filter3.) Use swan kettle to gently pour 170ml of hot water over the coffee grounds in a circular motion.

That's it! You can enjoy your coffee! Some Coffee Trivia: Being a woman who's clueless with coffee aroma and beans, etc., I learned a lot of things about coffee besides keeping you awake. Here are the basics: 1.) During coffee cupping (cupping means when you taste test the coffee origin per se), you need to slurp, and then let the coffee roam around your mouth for a bit before swallowing to really taste the flavor.2.) Taste of coffee really depends on our taste buds. Sometimes different people taste coffee differently. Case in point: We all tasted all 4 coffee origin and were asked how we would describe the taste. My own taste descriptions were waaaaaay off, to a point wherein I didn't want to "recite" my "answer" anymore. These were my actual notes copy-pasted:

1st cup - Sagada (nutty and acidic for me) supposed to be sweet nutty and well balanced

4.) Coffee absorbs smell. So don't put freshly ground coffee beans in your freezer to "preserve" it because it will smell like meat or fish or whatever else you have in your freezer. Steve suggests to consume the freshly ground beans at least within 2 weeks of grinding. So there. I came out of Bo's Coffee more aware of the Philippines' potentially great coffee industry. Let's do our part to support our own stuff. And step # 1 would be purchasing local origin beans even just from time to time!Bo's Philippine Origin Coffee can be purchased from the following branches:

Bonifacio High Street

Glorietta 5

SM Mall of Asia

Newport

Galleria

SM North Edsa

NAIA1

Jupiter Makati

Solenad

Megamall

The people behind this event: Joel Quizon, Steve Benitez, and Zar Castro